Many different kinds of safety devices for motor vehicles are known. Seat belts are the most common and preferred safety devices for automobiles, particularly with a shoulder harness arrangement. Air bags have been proposed for automobiles and the like and the drawbacks of those devices are wellknown. Nevertheless, the concern for the safety of passengers in vehicles continues to be of primary importance to those responsible for the safety of the passengers.
One design which shows a protection device particularly for passengers of motor vehicles in which the impact device is pivoted from a rest position into a use position is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,874. This device includes a padded cushion mounted on a pair of arms which are fastened to the seat in front of the passenger. The arms pivot about the fastening points of the four-point safety belts which are used for the passenger in front. The restraining device is also fastened to the frame of the vehicle and appears to be positioned to restrain the upper portion of the passenger's body, such as in the chest area.
A similar restraining system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,429. In this system, the primary restraint comprises an energy dissipation dampening means but also includes a forward-shaped part which again is designed to impact in the chest areas of the passenger riding in the rear seat.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,339, a system is shown in which an energy absorbing apparatus is provided for a row of interconnected seats such as on a school bus. The intention of this system is to isolate a row of vehicle seats from the remainder of the vehicle during an accident. The design is apparently intended to be used with conventional seat belts.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,010, describes a safety bar design which may be substituted for a customary seat belt and which extends across the lap of a person seated in the rear seat of a vehicle. The arms of the restraining device are fastened to a pivotedly supported cylinder constituting an element of a hydraulic locking device. The hydraulic locking device locks the bar in an operative position over the knees of the occupant of the seat.
None of the above devices particularly address the problems found in successfully developing a substitute for shoulder/harness-type seat belts. A particular concern is the need for an adequate restraining device for use with bench seats of the type used in school buses. It is important that the use can be enforced by a driver whose authority is oftentimes questioned by the children. There is a need to compensate for the attitude of children and young people who refuse to wear seat belts or resent wearing seat belts. There is also a need to verify the use of the safety device in a manner which permits the bus driver or other monitor to quickly and accurately verify that the device is in use in every seat throughout the vehicle.
Another important concern in the design of restraining devices for use with bench seats, is the concern that during a collision, the safety bar would rise with the momentum of the crash, causing the passenger to submarine or slip under the bar, possibly resulting in even more serious injury. It is particularly important to keep the lap end of the bar riding in the passenger's hip area without rising and causing possible excessive abdominal loads.